Finish material retainer



F 3. 1948. M. c. WEAVQER- mp 23 FIN'ISH MATERIAL RETAINER Filed Sept. 27, 1945 mm INVENTORS. L

Patented Feb. 3, 1948 FINISH MATERIAL RETAINER Maxwell TCIWeaver-and Ralph W. Hall, Cincinnati, hio,..assignors to The Bandall'Company, Cincinnati-Chime corporation of Ohio Application September 27, 1945, Serial No. 618,828

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a finish material retainer or the like, such as may be classed with devices of the character disclosed in Weaver et a1. Patent No. 2,276,530, dated March 17, 1942. One of the many uses for such devices is illustrated in the aforesaid patent-wherein is taught the application: thereof-to a vehicle roof structure for the purpose ofholding tauta head liningfabric or other flexible material. For purposes of illustration andex-planation, the device of the present invention wi-ll-sbe disclosed with relation tov a vehicle roof structure, although it is to be clearly :understoodwthat the. device iscapable of use under varioustother circumstances and conditions.

An object of the invention-is-to provide an improved finish material retainer Which'is structurally very simple, yet highly-effective for maintaining a finish material of cloth or otherflexible fabric in tautlconditionover airame orother body to be covered.

Another object of: the invention is. toprovide an. improved finish material retainer which is so formed as to be easily benhin any-direction so as to conform with complexcurvatures of a .frame or understructure to .be .coveredwith finishing cloth or fabric, .the.devicepossessing the advantage that none of its parts will become loose or detached or undesirably distorted-in any other direction than isintended. in rendering it conformable with the fcurvatures of the frame or understructure.

Another object is to, provide. adevice ofthe character stated, which will. firmly hold a finish sheet in place, smoothly. and without :puckering or tearing the sheet at the points. of attachment.

A further object is to provide an improved finish material retainer which maybe manufactured expeditiously and inexpensively froinstrip and rod materials, preferably metal, which in the first instance may be purchased at low cost.

The foregoing andother objectsare attained by the. means described herein .and illustrated in the' accompanying "drawing, in which:

'Fig. 1 .is. a, perspective view of the finish material retainer, showing an attachment plateapplied thereto.

Fig. 2. is a. cross-sectional view showing the -retainer applied tothe roof. structure of a vehicle.

'2 Fig. 3 is a' view similar to'Fig-l, showing the retainer bent in the :plane ofrits mounting tabs, for application to-arcurved surface.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the retainer, in which it is shown bent laterallyto conform with another curvature of the understructure or vehicle roof.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational'view of a modified form of the finish material retainer.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken on line 5-6 of Fig. 5.

The understructure or: frame'selected for the purpose of this description, is illustrated by Fig. 2 as a portion of'.a-=vehicle roof, wherein 8 indicates the roof rail, Sthe roof bow, and In the roofing sheet which is usually of metal or other substantially rigid material. The character l2 indicates a sheet of'flexible finish material such as Woven cloth, fabricpleatherette or the like, serving as a covering material for the roof bow and rail interiorly of the-vehicle. The finish material may be fixed to the roof bow in any suitable manner, and is to be drawn taut along the inside face l3 of the structural-'member 8 of the roof. To-so :anchor the free end [4 of the finish material sheet, is they function of the retainer herein disclosed.

Referring to Fig..- 1,--the retainer is indicated generally by the character I5,--and will be seen to comprise anarrow sheet ot-metal or other suitable material formed about a reinforcing wire or spine I 6 to provideazsmoothcylindrical bead H. The spine is an elongated "member which is of such cross-sectional shapeas to be bendable in-any direction withequal facility. In the example shown, thesspine is circular .in

cross-section, :or substantially so, in order .to.

meet the foregoing requirement. As is obvious, it might also be elliptical or. polygonal in crosssection to produce .the result desired.

Along a line Hlwhich is parallel to the-axis of the spine, theestrip, may be bent upwardly to furnish a narrow-fin! alongwhich is formed. the series of barbs or-prongs 20,-andthe-alternately disposed mounting-tabs 2| 'which lie prefl erably in the plane of the prong bases 22. -At locations intermediate the base and the point of each prong, the material is angularly bent toward one side in: order-to dispose thegzpointed portion of the prongangularlytothebase thereof. The points of the prongs, as illustrated by Fig. 4, extend laterally beyond the bead [1, whereas the prong bases 22 and the mounting tabs 21 rest substantially in a plane which includes also the axis of the spine.

By means of spot welds, rivets, or other fastening means 23, selected mounting tabs of the finish material retainer may be firmly secured to the base 24 of an attachment plate, said plate having a head 25 offset from the plane of the mounting tab, by means of a reversely curved neck portion 26 formed on the plate. The head of the plate may be'apertured as at 21 to receive screws or other fastening devices 28 which fasten the attachment plate to the frame or structural member 8, as illustrated by Fig. 2. It may be noted that the head 25 of the attachment plate extends to one side of the bead H, for a distance which does not exceed the reach of the g V prong points beyond the bead. By reason .of

this relationship, the prong point as shown in 1 Fig. 2, will substantially contact the insid'e'face l3 of the structural member 8 when the head of the attachment plate is fixed thereto, as by means of the fastener 28. With this understanding, 'it will be readily appreciated thatby using a tool to force the free end M of the finish material sheet upwardly along the face iii.

of the roof rail, said free end may be extended past the series of prongs 29 so that the prongs may grip the material and hold it tightly in snug covering relationship about the bead 11. Due to the upward and inward direction of projection of the prongs, it is impossible for the finish material to retract and become loose about the bead ll, once it has been placed in gripping relationship with the prongs.

It may here be noted that the diameter of bead ll'is sufiiciently in excess of the thickness of the prong base, as to provide an obstruction or a limiting effect upon any tendency of the finish material to slide down onto the bases of the prongs, while penetrated by the prong points. By

this means, there is avoided the likelihood of the triangular prongs slitting the finish material where penetrated, and permitting it to sagand become loose about the circumference of the retainer bead. a

The material of the'attachment plate and the mounting lug, is sufficiently flexible to yield as the free end I4 of the finish material is projected upwardly beyond the points of the prongs by means of a thin plate-like tool. When the tool is removed, therefore, the bead H presses the finish material in the immediate vicinity thereof, toward and against the inside face I3 of the rail or structural member 8.

By referring to Figs. 3 and 4, it is in the plane of its fin l9, or'transversely of the fin. This enables the retainerto follow curvatures of the framework or understructure, which may insome instances be quite complex. The retainer maybe bent; not only transverse to and in the plane of the but also in various inter-- mediate directions angularly tothe fin Moreover, it may be twisted to a reasonable extent if necessary, to conform with such curvatures in the framework as may require such treatment. 7 Figs, 5 and 6 illustrate a modified form of the finish material retainer, wherein the prongs 3B and mounting tabs 3| are more closely spaced than in'Fig. 1; each intermediate portion 32 between them being quite limited in extent and raised sufiioiently above the bead to constitute 2 I evident that the retainer of the invention readily may be bent short fin. 'In the modified form of the device, the triangular prongs are bent to one side of the- 7 plane of the mounting tabs, at approximately" the level of the series of fins 32. Like the retainer of Fig. 1, the modified device includes the spine 33 and a surrounding head 34, said spine and bead performing the same functions and.

bearing the same relationship to the prongs as previously mentioned herein. The mounting plate 35, which may be substantially like that illustr-ated'by Figs. 1 and 4, may span one or more prongs in itsattached relationship to two or more mounting tabs. Fixation of the mounting plate to the tabs may be eifected at'the locations 36, by means of spot welds or otherwise. In connection with Figs. 5 and 6, it is preferred that the mounting plate base 31 be applied to that face of a mounting tab which is opposed to the direction of extension of the prongs, this being clearly exemplified in Fig. 6. Referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the base portions of no two triangular prongs meet one another at a sharp angle, wherefore it is impossible for successive prongs to out completely through the finish material along a continuous line, such as would result in severance of'the material at the prongs. More; over, the presence ,of bead 34 beneath the prongs precludes creeping of the finish material along the prongs toward the bases thereof, thereby further discouraging severance of the marginal edge of the lining material from the main body portion thereof by any cutting action of the prong edges. It should be noted that the head end of the attachment plate 35 extends no farther from the plane of themounting tabs, than does the point of the prongfthe reason for this .being that the point of the prong is to be disposed as closely as possible to the surface upon which the attachment plate is secured, so as to be effective for gripping, the finished material the instant that it is projected upwardly past they point of the prong. The prongs are sufiiciently flexible to,

permit such insertion of the finish ma erial past them. I 7

From the foregoing, it should readily be appre ciated that the present device is highly effective for its intended purpose, and that it may be manufactured. expeditiously and at low cost with the 7 use of simple and rapidly operating machinery.

The several elements constituting the finish retainer are of such character as willenablerapid production with a minimum of expense.

We claim: g I 1. A finish material'retainer-of the class described, comprisinga longitudinal strip including a bead, a reinforcing spine within the head, 'a fin upstanding upon the bead radially of the spine, coplanar mounting, tabs formed integrally 7 with the fin at intervals along the lengthof the strip, and a series of prongs extending from a free edge of the fin in a common direction angularly to the plane of the mountingftabs, and

attachment plates secured to a certain of the mounting tabs, said plates each having a head in ofiset relationship thereto. v 2. A finish material retainer of the class described, comprising a longitudinal strip including I a bead, a reinforcing spine Within the bead, a fin upstanding upon the bead radially of the spine, coplanar mounting tabs "formed integrally with the fin at intervals along the length of the strip, and seriesof prongs extending from the fin in a common direction angularly to the plane of the mounting tabs, and attachment 'platesisecured to certain of the'mounting tabs in onset relationship thereto, and the ofiset of the attachment plates relative to the tabs being no greater in extent than the reach of the points of the prongs.

3. A finish material retainer of the class de- 5 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 424,588 Woodmansee et a1. Apr. 1, 1890 1,907,044 Crowe May 2, 1933 10 2,260,115 Hathaway Oct. 21, 1941 Weaver et a1. Mar. 1'7, 1942 

